- Messages
- 15,563
- Location
- East Central Indiana
My Grandma Brown and my Father raised me. I still vividly remember her repeated stories of family history beginning when I was a young child sitting on her lap. I never tired of her or Dad's recollections of their early childhood on into their adult lives and about Great Grandparents that I never knew.
Grandma went into a nursing home during my Senior year of high school. It greatly affected our lives and was a sad affair. After high school I was drafted into the Army. I had visited her often before I left. She had asked to go into the home because her mind was failing and she just couldn't take care of her family anymore as she lived for and was her whole world. Somehow she seemed mostly content there and those in the facility loved her, but I also saw a loneliness of missing those days gone by.
After I got through with military training, and more settled, I wrote her a letter reminiscing about her younger years. Details of how she attended a one room school house called 'Bell School', and her teacher's name 'Mrs. Bannon' along with family specifics that she had instilled in me throughout my childhood. I had hopes that the letter would cheer her up as those memories cheered me up.
Several weeks later, to my surprise, I received a letter back from my Grandma. As I sat the bunk in my Cadre room and read her letter, I was amazed at how articulate and well put together her response was with the great joy of me remembering all of those little particulars.
After I returned home, the nurses made it a point to tell me how thrilled she was with my letter to her. In fact it took all the concentration she could muster then (along with the nurses help) to answer in the way she wanted to. They told me that she worked on her letter, to get it right, for several days before sending it.
I still have her letter behind her photo in the Brown Family Album that I reread every few years. As I type this, it brings tears to my eyes (mainly of joy).
I highly value those stories and times with family of years ago. Over the years I've set down with my kids and told them the same stories and new ones. Just last week my 21 year old Son said to me during one of my old family stories, " Dad, your repeating yourself ". I just smiled inside and kinda gave Grandma Brown a wink and thought, yeah I know, hopefully one day you will too for your family..!!
Grandma went into a nursing home during my Senior year of high school. It greatly affected our lives and was a sad affair. After high school I was drafted into the Army. I had visited her often before I left. She had asked to go into the home because her mind was failing and she just couldn't take care of her family anymore as she lived for and was her whole world. Somehow she seemed mostly content there and those in the facility loved her, but I also saw a loneliness of missing those days gone by.
After I got through with military training, and more settled, I wrote her a letter reminiscing about her younger years. Details of how she attended a one room school house called 'Bell School', and her teacher's name 'Mrs. Bannon' along with family specifics that she had instilled in me throughout my childhood. I had hopes that the letter would cheer her up as those memories cheered me up.
Several weeks later, to my surprise, I received a letter back from my Grandma. As I sat the bunk in my Cadre room and read her letter, I was amazed at how articulate and well put together her response was with the great joy of me remembering all of those little particulars.
After I returned home, the nurses made it a point to tell me how thrilled she was with my letter to her. In fact it took all the concentration she could muster then (along with the nurses help) to answer in the way she wanted to. They told me that she worked on her letter, to get it right, for several days before sending it.
I still have her letter behind her photo in the Brown Family Album that I reread every few years. As I type this, it brings tears to my eyes (mainly of joy).
I highly value those stories and times with family of years ago. Over the years I've set down with my kids and told them the same stories and new ones. Just last week my 21 year old Son said to me during one of my old family stories, " Dad, your repeating yourself ". I just smiled inside and kinda gave Grandma Brown a wink and thought, yeah I know, hopefully one day you will too for your family..!!
